“While Mitt Romney has attributed his defeat, in part, to “gifts”President Obama was able to shower on key constituencies, a Republican National Committee report on the election points to other reasons — like changing demographics, Hurricane Sandy, George W. Bush, and the failure to win over the middle class.

“This RNC report of exit poll data, which NBC News has obtained and which RNC Chair Reince Priebus presented to GOP senators on Wednesday, states that “demographic change” in the United States “is real.” It notes that the white share of the electorate has declined from 81% in 2000 to 72% in 2008. And it points out that “3 in 10 voters will be minorities in 2016.”